Lunch Waste Reduction Program

Last year representatives from Green Star performed an audit at Bear Valley School.  One of the highest generations of waste is during lunch….   The Green Paw Parent Volunteers thought it was a good idea to get some real data from Bear Valley to share with students, faculty, and families.  They measured and weighed lunch waste for two days and found that Bear Valley elementary students generate approximately 14 bags/ 180 pounds of trash per day.  That’s almost 40,000 pounds for the school year; enough to fill the multipurpose room to a height of 10 feet!  View details of this data at Bear Valley Lunch Waste Data - November 2004.  The Green Paw Parent Volunteers coordinated with the 6^th grade students to develop ways to reduce this waste.

In meetings with sixth grade classes, students came up with the following ideas for lunches that come from home:

·          Pack lunch in cloth bag or lunch box

·          Use recyclable drink containers (#1 plastics, such as water and juice containers can be used over and over and then recycled).

·          Use reusable drink containers.

·          Bring only what you will eat.

·          Use reusable containers: thermos, Tupperware, yogurt, cottage cheese containers, etc.

·          Reuse Ziploc baggies.

·          Bring food bought in bulk.

·          Use cloth napkin.

·          Use real silverware or reuse plastic.

·          Take left-overs home

·          Plastic food bags, especially bread bags are great sandwich bags- use again and again.

·          Discourage disposable packaging: prepackaged foods, plastic bags, juice boxes and pouches, paper napkins, and disposable utensils.

·          Avoid purchasing individually wrapped items.

·          Recycle materials, such as Lunchable box, either at home or in mixed paper container in class.

In meetings with sixth grade classes, students came up with the following ideas for hot lunches that are served at school:

·          Don’t take what you won’t eat or drink.

·          Cafeteria food could be placed in smaller containers.

·          Don’t offer food that is processed and tastes bad because students won’t eat it.

·          Drain milk that students don’t drink before throwing container away.

·          Take left-overs home.

·          Reuse lunch cartons.

·          Use washable plastic trays for the kindergarten ( or recycle clean cardboard trays).

·          Suggest “café” style serving instead of individual lunch containers.

In meetings with sixth grade classes, students came up with the following ideas for educating other students in Bear Valley about reducing the lunch waste we generate:

·          Put up signs/posters.

·          Sixth graders talk with other classes.

·          Incorporate reduce, recycle, reuse messages into the daily announcements once a week.

·          Send a flyer or newsletter home.

·          Parents sign contracts to send kids to school with a no-waste lunch.

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